a chronicle of my milestones and missteps... my rants and raves... and everything else in between...

I did say in an earlier post that if get inspired, I'll make another blog. And so here it is. Luckily, it's not as taxing to make as my earlier post. However, in its own way, it did tax me... or my wallet.

I have a confession to make: I am a book hoarder. If I were to gauge by the number of books that I just sorted and cleaned up yesterday, they are a lot for my room to fit in. My book blogger friends -- you know who you are -- would argue that they're still by no means the same volume as theirs, to which I agree. As I'm surveying my room, I'm counting five plastic crates... Five. Plastic. Crates! And I remember seeing more than a handful of stray ones in our living room. Oh dear.

I remembered in 2010, I gave myself a goal: not to buy a lot of books because of my space dilemma. I made a list, which I kept, followed and succeed. So I thought 2011 would be a cinch. I knew this year would really put a dent in my pocket but I wanted to keep myself in check. So I made a list. I kept it. Unfortunately, I didn't follow it. In fact, I exceeded and got a total of 35 books (3 of which were gifts by the way)! Jeez, it sounds like I rebounded from rehab. Hahaha. Here's a snapshot of the books I owned (bought or given) in 2011 as seen in my Goodreads account:

(click to see the above image in full)

2011 marks the year wherein I've read the most number of books since I got caught in the corporate jungle. My day job hardly affords me any time to read so finishing any non-work related book is quite an achievement. I can still remember my 2006 dry spell and I don't want that to happen again. I gave myself a 15-book reading challenge at the start of 2011. My total read books: 20! Woohoo. I am so proud of myself. And I thought that was impossible since I switched jobs. Thank goodness for long commute rides. Here's a snapshot of the books I read as seen in my Goodreads account:

(click to see the above image in full)

In some ways, I found all this to be a good thing because I was introduced to a whole lot of authors and my reading palate became more diverse. 2011 also became the year where I met more authors and got my books signed; I loved seeing one again (Hello Lauren Kate!) and meeting two new authors who were such great individuals, very enthusiastic about their work (Hello Samantha Sotto & Alexander Yates!). I followed more authors this year on Twitter (Hello John Green, Gayle Forman, Scott Westerfeld, Erin Morgenstern and Laini Taylor!) and listed more books on my Goodreads wishlist.

Suffice to say, my love for reading is back in full force and I have no intentions of stopping any time soon. It helps that I'm actively part of a club with a few friends who meet regularly to discuss and recommend books. So I guess my target of 20 books for 2012 would be a cinch? I truly hope. And about my space problem? I'm thinking about donating, if not re-selling, some of my books. I'm thankful for my Kindle for PC app but since I can't bring Sydney while I commute, getting a Kindle soon is becoming a priority.